A senior
police official said late Wednesday the suspect allegedly planned to use a bomb
to carry out a suicide bombing mission in a public area but was killed in a
police operation. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he
was not authorized to speak about details ahead of a Thursday news conference,
identified the suspect as Aaron Driver.
Driver,
originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and in his mid-20s, was under a court order
from earlier this year to not associate with any terrorist organization,
including the Islamic State group.
In February,
Driver's lawyer and the prosecutor agreed to a peace bond stating there are
"reasonable grounds to fear that he may participate, contribute directly
or indirectly in the activity of a terrorist group."
Winnipeg-based
lawyer Leonard Tailleur, who handled Driver's peace bond, said he was
"shocked" to hear what had happened.
"Saddened
to hear that it had to end this way for him," Tailleur said in an email to
The Canadian Press.
A police
operation continued well into Wednesday night in the southern Ontario town of
Strathroy, about 140 miles southwest of Toronto.
In Strathroy,
resident Irene Lee said late Wednesday that police had been camped out near her
parents' convenience store since about 4:15 p.m. At about that time, she said
she was at her home close by when she heard a loud noise. She said shortly
afterward, a police officer came by to tell residents to stay inside their
homes.
Lee said there
were up to 25 marked and unmarked cruisers outside a home on a street right
behind her parents' store.
The Royal
Canadian Mounted Police earlier said it halted a possible attack after
receiving credible information of a potential terrorist threat.
They said a
suspect was identified and the "proper course of action has been
taken" to ensure there was no danger to public safety.
Canadian
Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale said he had spoken to Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau about the events "to confirm that public safety has been
and continues to be properly protected."
"The
RCMP, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and other police and security
agencies were involved in the operations, he added.
"These
agencies conducted themselves effectively in the circumstances that developed
today," Goodale said in statement.
Taking all
relevant information into account, the national terrorism threat level for
Canada remains at "medium" where it has stood since the fall of 2014,
Goodale said.
Source:Fox News
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